COHASSET – For the first half, it looked as if the team in rebuilding mode was going to upset the big favorites on their home field.

When Norwell’s Jack Dole scored just 13 seconds into the third period, the Clippers led perennial South Shore League kings Cohasset, 7-5, and with the time of possession just about even, the home team was in serious jeopardy.

But part of the Skippers’ winning tradition is being able to bounce back, and they finished off the third period with four unanswered goals and then added two more early in the fourth quarter.

When the smoke cleared, Cohasset (10-2) had posted a gritty 13-8 victory, but Norwell, coming off a 6-15 campaign in 2013, certainly served notice that it’s for real this spring. The Clippers, under first-year coach Joshua Stolp, are 7-4.

“I think that first half was just hustle versus overconfidence,” Cohasset coach James Beaudoin said. “Every team comes at us hard. I think Norwell had some good talent last year, but they had graduated all their role players, and so everybody wanted to shoot and score. But now (Stolp) is doing a good job of making the kids believe in the team concept.

“Norwell is probably our toughest competitor in the South Shore League this year,” Beaudoin added. “Of course, for Division 3 South, Hanover is very good, and Archbishop Williams is also right there near the top, so I’d say those four teams are all in the mix.”

Stolp had 13 seniors returning this season, but he didn’t really know the level of play or experience most of them had. Relying on senior captains Benjamin Bickford and Douglas Decker for team leadership has been a big help in sorting it all out, and a bevy of talented sophomores has also been invaluable in helping Norwell exceed its 2013 win total already.

Dole, a sophomore, led the Clippers with four goals, and sophomore goaltender Caleb Getto made about 10 tough saves to keep the home team at bay.

The usually untouchable Cohasset faceoff man, senior Will Golden, had a major battle on his hands with Clipper Daniel Dromeshauser, and a large part of Norwell’s second-quarter run got its impetus from Dromeshauser battling Golden almost evenly.

“We played with them for the whole game, and were even up at the half,” mused Stolp. “That’s very encouraging, because I guess we got blown out by Cohasset last year (by a 16-4 score). But we were not able to put it away, and finishing games has become a bit of a problem – this is not the first time we’ve had that problem.”

Page 2 of 2 - “I don’t know what last year was really like, but experience might have been a key factor,” Stolp added. “I do know that our success thus far this season has been because of the great leadership we’re getting from our two senior captains. I think a lot of our turnaround is due to maturity, to everyone understanding the game better.”

Cohasset goalie Jack Conte came up big several times, including on a point-blank denial of Dole with about five minutes left and the Skippers clinging to an 11-8 lead.

Said Beaudoin: “Jack Conte is having a huge year for us in net, an All-American kind of season where he’s stopped 70 percent of the shots against him, even against Duxbury.”

“Cohasset and Norwell have two of the best youth lacrosse programs in the state,” noted Beaudoin, “so we can expect to be going at each other like this for years to come.”

Cohasset hosts Foxboro on Friday night at 6:30 in a game with special significance. In order to honor the memory of local fourth-grader Dylan Gold, who died in Maine recently, two youth lacrosse teams will play a special exhibition game at halftime of the varsity contest.